Stringed musical instrument.



No. seoglsv. PATBNTED JULY 16, 19o?.

G. H. INSKBBP.

STRINGBD MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. APPLICATION FILED 1320.11.1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED JULY 16, 1907.

C. H. INSKEEP.

STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. APPLIGATION FILED DB0. 17. 190e.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CHILDS I-IINKLE INSKEEI, OF ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI.

STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16,1907.

Application iiled December 17,1906. Serial No. 348,347.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHILDS ItIiNKLE INsKnnr, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Joseph, in the county of Buchanan and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stringed Musical Instruments; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description oi the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which iorm a part of this specilication.

The object of my invention is to provide a string musical instrument which by its peculiar. construction will produce increased volume of sound.

I accomplish my object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective of the entire instrument; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the body of the instrument, its neck, sound board and brace broken away, and showing the interior construction of a resonator for increasing the volume of sound; Fig. 3 is a plan of said resonator; Fig. 4 is a top view of a bridge; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a bridge; Fig. 6 is a detail of a brace; Fig. 7 is a plan of the resonator; Fig. 8 is a view showing the closed end thereof and Fig. 9 is a view showing the open end thereof.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several views.

A is the body of the instrument, its front end A open; B is the sound board and B the finger board; C is the neck of the instrument provided with a slot C at its lower end. Said neck and finger board are prefer'- ably set at an angle of 45 degrees with the sound board.

D is a brace to support the neck; d d are the strings and D is the nut over which the strings pass to connection with keys E E-; e is a finger rest; II is a tail piece set lorward on said sound board and through perforations in which the lower ends of strings d dare held; II is a plate set rearward on the sound board and I is a shalt carried thereby, but spaced therelrom, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5; these constitute a bridge. Said plate is provided with slots h L- and set screws h2 hby which to adjust it forward or backward on the sound board. As shown in Fig. l, strings d deXtend from said tail piece II backward over the sound board under and up over shaft I; thence over linger board B and nut D to connection with the keys ofthe instrument. It will be seen that by loosening the screws and moving plate I-I towards or away from the linger board that part of strings above the linger board will be nearer or urther away `lrom the linger board.

Shaft I is provided with grooves t' i to hold strings d LZ- in position while they are being plucked.

J is a biiurcated, brace, its prongsaigidly fastened ou the sound board as shown in Fig. l; its llat head is provided with a slot J which is lengthwise with the instrument; f is a set screw adjustable in said slot and adapted to engage with neck C; the unction of said screw is to hold the neck in position and to regulate the distance from the nut to the bridge. The instrument being fretted, it is necessary to keep a required distance between the nut and bridge: hence the necessity for being able to change such distance.

b b are ordinary sound holes in the sound board B; K is a resonator the iront, back and sides of which are fastened to the underside of the sound board. The object of this resonator is to increase the volume of sound. Two partitions L L are placed between the sound board and the bottom of said resonator, as shown in Fig. 2. The sound entering the top part of this resonator passes down into the space between partitions L and L and thence down between partition L and the bottom of the resonator into the body ol the instrument and thence out the open front A as indicated by arrows. As shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, the channel which the sound passes through after passing down out of upper division K in the resonator gradually widens, thus contributing towards iree emission in thekvolume of sound.

In the construction of this instrument, I do not confine myself to the precise number oi partitions, forms of parts or number of strings shown in the drawing, in which changes made would be merely mechanical.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

l. In u stringed musical instrument the combination of a body with an open end, a sound board constituting the top of the body, a neck and a linger' board set at an angle to the plane of the sound board, a nut on the linge]I board, a plate provided with slots i'or set screws and the shaft thereon, said plate being on said sound board, a tail piece on the sound board provided with perfor-ations, a biturcatcd brace, its prongs held rigidly to said sound board, said brace having a llat head provided with a slot adapted to receive a set Screw, strings having connection with said tail pieceextending beneath and over said shaft and over the linger board and nut, the keys with which said strings are connected, a resonator beneath said sound board and the partitions therein forming a passage for the sound, substantially as set forth and shown.

In a stringed musical instrument the combination with a sound board, a neck and a linger board set at an angle to the plane of said sound board, the neck and linger board supports and the nut on the linger board, of a tail piece on said sound board to receive ends oi the strings, a plate on said sound board having slots and set screws to provide for adjustment, a shalt on said plate to carry the strings and by forward and backward adjustment regulate the distance of the strings from the ting-er board, substantially as described and shown.

In a stringed musical instrument the combination of a body, a sound board constituting the top of the body7 :i neck and a finger board set at an angie to the plane 0L the sound beard, n nut en the linger board, a plate provided with slots :tor set screws and the shatt thereon said plate being on said sound board, a tail piece on the sound beard provided with perforatiens, a bifureatcd brace its prongs held rigidly t0 said sound beard, said brace having' n Hat head provided with a Slot adapted to receive a set screw, strings extending beneath and over lsaid shaft, finger board and nut, and having connection with said tnil piece and the keys with which the strings are een- 1 neeted. substantially as set iforth and shown.

In testimony whereof, I :iihx my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

CHILDS HINKIJE INSKNIGI. Witnesses RANDOLPH L. wenns, FRANK IC. DUWLING. 

